PLAMONDON - La Cabane is coming. The annual Plamondon Franco winter fun family event, Cabane a Sucre de Plamondon, is taking place on March 3. This year’s event will feature a lively and upbeat performance by the Winnipeg-based French-Canadian duo TiBert et Douzie.
Rob Malo is TiBert, and describes himself as “the older one wearing the sash” while Douzie, whose real name is Alexandre Tétrault, entertains audiences with his fiddling skills.
Malo explained that the group blends traditional instruments with modern electronic dance music. Both musicians, who formed as a duo two years ago, have been playing instruments for years, and jam during sets, often playing one-of-a-kind, impromptu songs that only exist during a particular live performance.
While on stage, Malo says, he and his bandmate have a lot of fun with the crowd dancing and learning together.
“We do it the same way we would if we were sitting around the fire with friends and family,” he told Lakeland This Week. “We have fun.”
As for the origins of the name TiBert, Malo says it is derived from “Petit Robert,” little Rob in English. He says that part of traditional French-Canadian culture often sees the ‘ti’ added before some names.
Douzie, he continued, comes from the nickname Tétrault received from his mother when he was a baby. Every time his little hands would pull on her hair, she would say, “Doux, Doux,” which means “gentle, gentle” in English.
“Since he was a kid everyone in his family and school called him Douzie. As a duo, we are TiBert et Douzie,” Malo stated.
Douzie also carries ‘La Prairie’ as a hereditary middle name passed down the line from Louis Riel's grandfather, Jean-Baptiste La Prairie Lagimodière, to the eldest of the family through the past two centuries.
Malo said while many people from their community in the past and today choose to no longer speak French, they identify strongly as Francophone, although both musicians are bilingual and can trace their French ancestry in Canada back 400 years.
“French is the language we speak at home,” he stated.
Since its inception, the group has been busy performing hundreds of shows in Western Canada. While most of the shows have been in Malo and Tetrault’s home province of Manitoba, they’ve also made appearances in Vancouver, Grande Prairie, and Kelowna. Currently TiBert and Douzie are planning tours in Ontario, Northern Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
The March 3 show in Plamondon will be the group’s first stop in the community. The duo is pleased to be performing in one of Albera’s six official bilingual communities.
“We are always happy to meet other Francophone communities across Canada,” Malo said. “Wherever we go, when we meet other Francophones, it always feels like we are home.
The annual Cabane a Sucre event in Plamondon will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Plamondon Festival Centre.
